BYU and Utah should take note of Boise State's win over TCU

Boise State, I salute you.

I was wrong. Before kickoff, I thought TCU would win by at least 10 points, possibly two touchdowns. I based this on the belief the Frog defense would stop about everything the Broncos did and get pressure on Kellen Moore. I also did not believe Boise State had a defense that could slow down the Frogs. That was another big error in my pre-kickoff assessment.

I have before me a plate of boiled crow. Pass the catsup.

I now tip my hat to Boise State, they are the team I will hang my anti-BCS rants upon instead of TCU. I just wish the winning coach, Chris Peterson, would have used a non-AQ soap box to say something about the BCS system after the game. But even in refusing to do that, he showed class, so he’s forgiven. Hail to the WAC.

BSU beat TCU because it won the battle in the pit. Boise State’s offensive and defensive lines were well prepared and came out and punched the Frogs in the face. That set the tone for gaining momentum, rattling TCU, throwing Gary Patterson and his staff completely off guard and then BSU managed the game with great schemes, adjustments and game plan.

TCU’s execution, which is as good as I’ve seen in the MWC in a decade, failed on this night. Dropped passes, a pick-six right out of the chute, bad throws by Andy Dalton, none of that showed against Utah and BYU. Again, credit BSU.

The Broncos revealed the road map on how to beat TCU. You do it by stopping TCU’s run game. Then you take Dalton’s famous QB draw away from him, especially in the red zone. With that, you have to pressure him and keep him guessing by mixing up coverages.

BSU mixed zone and man coverages, often switching before the snap, and basically took away the post play from TCU’s speedy receivers. In so doing, TCU tried to attack the edge of the zone but BSU reacted with great coverage over the top and underneath. The only thing TCU and Dalton had was quick passes to the flats and that would have worked if Hicks hadn’t come out with cement gloves.

Defensively, TCU played good enough to win this game. Yeah, the special teams guys got tricked on that fourth-down pass, but giving up 17 points, if you are the best defense in the country is good enough for a win if your offense does anything.

This is why I was so impressed with BSU, because of it’s defense and how it rattled TCU all game long.

If Utah and BYU are to regain championship status in this league, they’ll have to do it with superior defense than they showed this past year, something in the realm of what we saw Monday night from the Broncos.

Having said that, it helps a well-coached team like BSU that they get more than a month to prepare for an opponent in a bowl game. No question Peterson and his staff were on top of every TCU cutout in the film room and designed answers for all the things they saw. Very impressive job of coaching, something you don’t get at many of the top level BCS schools including USC and Ohio State, who tend to roll out talent and guess.

TCU’s failure to perform thwarts the MWC’s bid to go undefeated in post season. It shouldn’t keep the league from finishing a second time with three ranked teams. It is an opportunity lost. As the No. 3 ranked AP team, the Frogs could have put pressure on voters this weekend to make them No. 1 if they had won. That would have made the knees on those BCS chaps shake like a bad tire alignment.